Big changes are on the horizon for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members.
The airline has announced a number of changes for the program starting January 1, 2025, including new ways to earn elite status faster than ever.
Upcoming Changes to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan for 2025
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is already a generous program, and it’s about to reward its members with even more perks.
Beginning January 1, 2025, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is launching elevated benefits, choices, and enhancements that will make it easier than ever to secure elite status.
Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances and Sales at Alaska Airlines, Brett Catlin says the company is “on a multi-year journey to make the industry’s most generous loyalty program even more rewarding. In 2025, Mileage Plan members will have access to all-new, more frequent perks along with expanded ways to earn elite status, including on award travel. As we invest in a single loyalty platform with Hawaiian Airlines, there is even more to come later in the year.”
New EQM Milestone Perks
Beginning January 1, 2025, as Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members earn elite-qualifying miles (EQMs), they’ll be able to choose from various perks as they hit each milestone along the way.
In 2025, there will be a total of 11 milestones that Mileage Plan members can reach:
- 10,000 EQMs
- 20,000 EQMs (MVP status)
- 30,000 EQMs
- 40,000 EQMs (MVP Gold status)
- 55,000 EQMs
- 75,000 EQMs (MVP Gold 75K status)
- 85,000 EQMs
- 100,000 EQMs (MVP Gold 100K status)
- 150,000 EQMs
- 200,000 EQMs
- 250,000 EQMs
Given that milestones will start at 10,000 EQMs, the airline says the perks will be available to a broader range of Mileage Plan members, not just those with elite status.
Some of the milestone perks members will be able to select include the following:
- Bonus miles
- Lounge access
- Trying an elevated status for a trip
- Rollover EQMs
- Access to exclusive events and unique experiences
New Ways to Earn EQMs
In September, 2024, Hawaiian Airlines officially joined Alaska Airlines, beginning a journey of maintaining both brands, which is a first for a US airline.
As the merged airlines work on creating a new single loyalty program, members of both airline loyalty programs can already take advantage of added benefits.
For example, miles can be transferred between Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles loyalty accounts at a 1:1 ratio for no charge, and flights on both airlines can be purchased on both websites.
Members of both airline loyalty programs receive at least 100% of their miles flown when their flights are purchased on the alaskaair.com website or on the app, and those miles are counted as EQMs.
Now, starting January 1, 2025, members will be able to earn EQMs through award redemptions, too.
When members fly on an award trip with Alaska Airlines or their global partners, they’ll earn elite-qualifying miles based on the distance flown. The airline says it will begin posting those EQMs to members’ accounts starting in the spring of 2025.
An example would be if you redeem Alaska miles for a round-trip journey between Seattle (SEA) and Tokyo-Narita (NRT) – which covers 9,538 miles – that would translate into earning 9,538 EQMs.
Furthermore, cardholders of the Alaska Airlines Visa cards (personal and business) will earn one EQM per $3 (USD) spent on qualified purchases (up to $30,000 spent). No action is required – the EQMs will be deposited automatically.
Members will also earn 1,000 EQMs for every 3,000 miles earned with eligible non-airline partners such as Lyft, which are listed on the Alaska Airlines website.
Another new perk includes rollover EQMs, meaning that when a member hits the threshold of 85,000 EQMs, they’ll soon have the ability to roll over 10,000 EQMs the following year, giving them a head start to keeping status.
Status qualification will continue to be based on how many elite qualifying miles a member earns.
As a reminder, here’s the breakdown of the MVP status tiers:
- MVP status: 20,000 EQMs
- MVP Gold status: 40,000 EQMs
- MVP Gold 75K status: 75,000 EQMs
- MVP Gold 100K status: 100,000 EQMs
Upgrades for Loyalty
Also happening in 2025, Alaska Airlines says it will be making upgrades better for loyalty members and their travel companions by prioritizing their upgrade waitlist based on a member’s recent and long-term loyalty.
That means Million Milers will receive the highest priority within their tier. After Million Milers, guests will be prioritized by how many elite-qualifying miles they’ve earned – not by how much they paid for their ticket.
With these changes, a guest travelling with an elite MVP member will now be eligible for complimentary, space-available upgrades when travelling on the same reservation.
It’s positive news for Canadian travellers as well, given that Alaska Airlines has a partnership with Porter Airlines. Porter offers direct service from Toronto (YYZ) to San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX), connecting to Alaska Airlines flights throughout the West Coast.
Plus, Alaska Airlines has signalled that you’ll soon be able to redeem Alaska miles for flights with Porter Airlines. When that happens, it’ll be possible to earn EQMs on flights with Porter Airlines booked with Alaska miles.
While there aren’t any co-branded credit cards that earn Alaska miles directly in Canada, you can convert Marriott Bonvoy points to Alaska Miles, which is a nice option to unlock great value in programs that are otherwise difficult to access.
Conclusion
Beginning January 1, 2025, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan will reward its members with more perks through elevated benefits, choices, and enhancements that will make it faster than ever to secure elite status.
The biggest takeaways from this is that there are 11 EQM milestones that offer benefits, and you’ll be able to earn EQMs on award flights booked with Alaska miles, amongst many other changes.
Alaska Airlines has had a huge year in 2024 with its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, new partnerships, a revamped loyalty program, and the announcement of further sweeping changes to come in 2025.
